66 TREES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Inflorescence. April to May. Sterile catkins usually in 

 threes, 2-4 inches long, scales 2-3-flowered : fertile catkins 

 bright green, cylindrical, stalked ; bracts 3-lobed, the central 

 lobe much the longest, tomentose, ciliate. 



Fruit. June. Earliest of the birches to ripen its seed ; 

 fruiting catkins 1-2 inches long, cylindrical, erect or spread- 

 ing ; bracts with the 3 lobes nearly equal in width, spreading, 

 the central lobe the longest : nut ovate to obovate, ciliate. 



Horticultural Value. Hardy throughout New England ; 

 grows in all soils, but prefers a station near running water ; 

 young trees grow vigorously and become attractive objects in 

 landscape plantations ; especially useful along river banks to 

 bind the soil ; retains its lower branches better than the 

 black or yellow birches. Seldom found in nurseries, and 

 rather hard to transplant ; collected plants do fairly well. 



PLATE XXXII. BETULA NHJKA. 



1. Leaf-buds. 



2. Flower-buds. 



3. Branch with sterile and fertile catkins. 



4. Sterile flower. 



5. Fertile flower. 



6. Scale of fertile flower. 



7. Fruit. 



8. Fruiting branch. 



Betula populifolia, Marsh. 



WHITE BIRCH. GRAY BIRCH. OLDFIELD BIRCH. POPLAR 

 BIRCH. POVERTY BIRCH. SMALL WHITE BIRCH. 



Habitat and Range. Dry, gravelly soils, occasional in 

 swamps and frequent along their borders, often springing up 

 on burnt lands. 



Nova, Scotia to Lake Ontario. 



Maine, abundant ; New Hampshire, abundant east- 

 ward, as far north as Con way, and along the Connecticut to 

 Westmoreland ; Vermont, common in the western and fre*- 

 quent in the southern sections ; Massachusetts, Ehode Island, 

 and Connecticut, common. 



